Miramar Parkway spoils P.K.’s shot at perfection, title

Friday

Feb 27, 2009 at 12:01 AMFeb 28, 2009 at 12:43 AM

The Blue Wave couldn’t rally in the second half to drop their only game of the season.

By John PattonStaff writer

LAKELAND — Destiny wasn’t on the side of the P.K. Yonge girls basketball team in Friday’s FHSAA Class 3A state championship game. Truth is, she was wearing No. 22 for Miramar Parkway Academy. With McDonald’s All-American guard Erica Wheeler slowed by an inner left knee sprain and harassed all afternoon by pesky and energetic Blue Wave guards, Panthers’ freshman center Destiny Jones scored a team-high 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead Parkway to a 49-42 victory against previously-unbeaten P.K. Yonge at The Lakeland Center. The win gave Parkway (32-3) its second straight 3A title. “She told me every time down that she could do it for us,” Wheeler said of Jones. “I knew we were on the safe side when a 15-year-old had the confidence to keep telling me she’s got me.” Prior to the game, the matchup was not only viewed as a meeting of the two best 3A teams in the state, it had added intrigue because it featured a current McDonald’s All-American facing a potential future McDonald’s All-American in Blue Wave junior guard Jaterra Bonds. While neither player put up numbers they are accustomed to, no one faulted their effort. A Rutgers signee Wheeler shot just 3-of-15 from the floor for nine points, and she was quick to credit the defense Ja’Kya Sheppard, Erika Stuckman and Katie Jackson played on her. “Those little guards worked us,” said Wheeler, who, as the primary defender on P.K. Yonge’s standout freshman Niya Johnson, limited her to four points on 2-of-10 shooting. “They made me work extra hard, harder than I had to against anyone else this year.” Bonds made just 5-of-20 shots, but went 8-of-9 from the foul line to lead all scorers with 19 points. The Florida commitment said the game’s pace and the fullcourt press her team often employed took a toll on her physically. “My legs got tight,” said Bonds, who also had a team-high nine rebounds. “Playing defense hard for 94 feet (10 feet longer than the standard high school court) is tough to do.” Parkway opened fast, jumping out to a 10-1 lead before the Blue Wave (28-1) responded with a 17-2 run to go ahead 18-12. However, up 20-16, P.K. Yonge saw Parkway score the half’s final five points, including a putback by Victoria Crawford just before the buzzer, to take the lead and momentum into the lockerroom. Looking for their first state title since 1983, the Blue Wave never led again, and saw the Panthers’ advantage fluctuate between two and nine points throughout the second half. The closest P.K. Yonge got late was a 45-42 deficit on a layup by Bonds with 1:22 to play. But a layup by Jones and two free throws by Dijannel Fowler were the only points the rest of the way, giving Parkway the state championship trophy and medals. Coach Ash’lea Moore loses six seniors from this team, but already has begun thinking about the 2009-10 season, where the Blue Wave will be heavy favorites to return to Lakeland. “I’ll give (the pain of this loss) a couple of days, a couple of hours,” said Moore, who added she thinks the Blue Wave would have won with three more minutes on the clock. “I’m older, so it’s easier for me than (my players) to move past something like this. “My mind has started shifting toward next year.”Contact John Patton at 352-374-5074 or pattonj@gvillesun.com.